Fireborn: Dark Phoenix

A letter from Deep Ocean

Midwinter-5-1935, Urnheim

Rotis came stumbling through the window, blathering about killing a voice in his head with the help of this ‘ether’ – he’d handed a recipe over to Marius. They all had one too, he was sure. But they have to hear their voices first. A voice of authority, who they’d willingly obey without question. His had been Lady Syri; he knows that for Jaxar, it was the Verugid from the ziggurat-dream, the ‘Afterlife’, despite Jaxar’s apparent skepticism. Everyone else? He’s not so sure, but ‘she’ – this not-Mistress – had spoken of ‘plans’ for Radomir, too…

The voices are X4, Rotis swore it was true. How did he know? Because Deep Ocean did – when the not-Mistress spoke caution in his head while he faced the strange being, it had boomed: “X4 SINGS”. No one else had ever overheard her; but Deep Ocean had even been able to ‘echo’ back her words. That voice was X4, Rotis vehemently said again. And it’s inside each of them as well. Ordering them around too, whether they hear it or not. But he might also appear a bit drunk and deranged, wildly gesticulating with near-empty bottle of Pengolds 1919.

The funny characters towards the end of his annotations to a letter supposedly from Deep Ocean read ‘Asmodeus’ in the Drakaric script; the old Blackscale stories Rotis heard long ago from a ‘friend’ tell of such a demon of fire who battles a demon of ice in the world up above for dominion, both eager to corrupt those of the Earth who stray too far into the light. And so they the Blackscales remain underground, the Hidden…